I just toss old seeds into their containers - no pre-anything. Have been pretty lucky - always get some germination.

PV

The different thing I do is sow a little heavier. The fall off on germination depends on the type of seed and how it has been stored. Some like lettuce tend to expire faster at room temperature; other will go one for years if theyhave been stored in the refrigerator.

I have had some nice surprises from old seed - last year I sowed Purple Queen French beans with the exp. date of Feb 2008 (!) and had 60% germination! I expected none. ;)

I have seeds that are years old and still sprout fine. Think about irradicating an invasive re-seeding weed and still finding babies for years later. It happens in nature too!

This year I was having difficulty getting out to my favourite seed house and found old sunflowers(2006), yard long beans, and squash seeds. Since it was early, I tried a few of each on damp coffee filters and placed them on my TV receiver They all germinated well - the sunflowers 100% so I saved myself some cash. This is the first time that I have done this and I think I will continue to do so. Now I know why knowledgeable gardeners stress the importance of storing seeds well.

If I've got them I'll sow them. Usually anything up to three years old has given me no problems -- lots of germination. The only problem I had was with some five-year old green bean seeds a few years ago. Little germination -- but then I direct sowed and probably wasn't as vigilant with early watering and weed control as I should have been and germination wasn't great.

Caryl

I've had success germinating old seeds indoors using coffee filter method, winter sowing method & direct sowing. This year the 'old seed stock' is 5 years old.
Although germination does vary ... doesn't it always.
There are so many variables. Example...this February I winter sowed 5 year old Yellow Russian Hollyhock seeds (alcea rose) that I had been longing to have but unsuccessful at germinating. My lack of knowledge & conflicting/confusing information online contributed to me NOT planting them correctly in the past. They need light to germinate. In the past I was covering the seeds. So the fact is the seed may have been viable but my sowing methods were incorrect.
Anyway my stubbornness to succeed was rewarded this year with the germination of the last seeds I had leftover of this hollyhock that came from a friends garden in the Ukaine.
All of my spring garden crops this year are from 4-5 yr old seed stock direct sown with 100% success.